Can we turn this into a game show?

Welcome to the latest edition of, “Who Suits Up For the Silvertips Today?” Seriously, can we trademark this?

If you take a gander at this week’s WHL weekly report, you’ll find Everett has eight players — that’s right, count ‘em up, EIGHT — listed as injured. This, of course, is why the Tips were forced to play two skaters short Saturday against Kamloops.

So once again Tips general manager Garry Davidson has been busy at the phones trying to piece together a lineup, and Everett’s roster has some names added for Thursday’s game at Kamloops.

The only completely new name is goaltender Adam Todd. Call-up goalie Nik Amundrud has returned to his midget team, the Tisdale Trojans of the SMAAAHL, to play in some key games. With Austin Lotz still sidelined, the Tips needed a new back-up. The 18-year-old Todd spent last season as the No. 3 goalie for the Saskatoon Blades, and this season he’s been with the Trail Smoke Eaters of the BCHL. He’ll man the gate and roll out the water bottle as Daniel Cotton’s back-up until Lotz is ready to return.

We’ve seen the other two names before. Defenseman Kevin Davis, the team’s first-round pick in last year’s bantam draft who hails from Kamloops, will be in the lineup against the Blazers. This will be Davis’ fifth game, meaning he will have hit the limit for 15-year-olds. However, I’m sure Everett can get permission to call Davis up for more games if the injury situation remains bad or, heaven forbid, gets worse. The other roster addition is 16-year-old winger Kyle Raymond, who appeared in two games earlier in the season. Raymond, along with Todd, will be on the bus when it returns to Everett to spend the weekend with the Tips.

As dire as the situation seems, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the Tips. Center Kohl Bauml has recovered from his illness and should be back Thursday. Winger Tyler Sandhu still has to complete the concussion protocol, but he skated in practice today and he could be available sometime this weekend. Lotz (ankle) and leading scorer Joshua Winquist (upper body) didn’t skate today, but I was told both are making good progress and should be back soon.

There’s also been a revelation about defenseman Austin Adam. Adam has been out an extended period with lingering concussion symptoms. However, it was discovered that Adam has mononucleosis, and the mono may have been the cause of those symptoms. Of course, having mono means Adam will remain out for a while, but hopefully that means the concussion wasn’t as severe as it appeared.